The Greenwich Tea Party was an incident that took place on December 22, 1774, early in the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, a small community in

Cumberland County, New Jersey Cumberland County is a coastal county located on the Delaware Bay in the Southern Shore Region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 census, the county was the state's 16th-most-populous county,Cohansey River The Cohansey River, also called Cohansey Creek, is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 river in southern New Jersey of the United States. It drains approxima ...

. Of the six tea parties during this time, it was the last and the least well-known due to the small size of Greenwich. Before the Greenwich Tea Party, the

Tea Act The Tea Act 1773 ( 13 Geo. 3. c. 44) was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The principal objective was to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to he ...

led to upset among American colonists which led to

boycotting A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict s ...

and the destruction of tea. Specifically in Greenwich, many colonists viewed boycotting tea as a way to show loyalty to the American cause. The Greyhound was a ship transporting tea that was piloted by Captain J. Allen. Captain Allen decided to change the ship’s course from Philadelphia to Greenwich to avoid possible conflict with colonists in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

over the ship’s cargo. Once the ship arrived in Greenwich, the tea was stored in Dan Bowen’s cellar, who sympathized with the British. However, Greenwich citizens learned of the tea in Bowen’s cellar, so a meeting was held over what actions to take. They decided on a verdict and, possibly dressed as Native Americans, they broke into the cellar, took the tea, and set it on fire. Some of the tea burners, like Richard and Lewis Howell, were put on trial. However, by the time of the trial, the American Revolution was in full swing and there weren’t enough

loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

left to indict them. One participant of the Greenwich Tea Party was

Richard Howell Richard Howell (October 25, 1754April 28, 1802) was the third governor of New Jersey from 1793 to 1801. Early life and military career Howell was born in Newark, in the Colony of Delaware, and was a descendant of a Virginian old colonist fa ...

, who would become the third governor of the state of New Jersey and whose granddaughter,

Varina Howell Varina Anne Banks Davis ( Howell; May 7, 1826 – October 16, 1906) was the only First Lady of the Confederate States of America, and the longtime second wife of President Jefferson Davis. She moved to the presidential mansion in Richmond, ...

, would marry

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

, president of the Confederacy. Another known participant was

Ebenezer Elmer Ebenezer Elmer (August 23, 1752 – October 18, 1843) was an American physician from Bridgeton, New Jersey. He represented New Jersey in the U.S. Congress from the Democratic-Republican Party from 1801 to 1807. Elmer's older brother, Jonathan Elm ...

, who would later become a member of the United States House of Representatives for New Jersey. James Erwin also participated, and he later became the mayor of

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

. Another participant was Andrew Hunter, who would become a chaplain of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. 16 other participants also served in the military during the American Revolution. Teaburners Monument

In 1908, the Cumberland County Historical Society erected a monument to mark the event, which is located at Main Street at Market Square in Greenwich Township. It's likely that the names on the monument aren’t entirely accurate. They were recalled by Ebenezer Elmer, who participated in the tea burning. However, when he recalled the list of names he was in his 80s, and the tea burning had taken place around 60 years before. The citizens of Greenwich feel a lot of pride in the event and the patriotism it represents. There have been reenactments of the tea burning, and there is an annual charity 5k run titled the Tea Burner Race. On September 27 and 28, 2008, there was a weekend celebration of the 100th anniversary of the monument.

References

External links

* * {{cite web, title=Greenwich Tea Burning Monument , url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=17692 , publisher=The Historical Marker Database
The Burning of the Tea at Cohansey

The Last Tea Party

The O.J. Hammell Co., builders of the Tea Burning monument
Greenwich Township, Cumberland County, New Jersey New Jersey in the American Revolution 1774 in New Jersey